The invention relates to protective articles of clothing. More particularly, the invention pertains to articles of clothing such as leggings or shirts that are adapted to protect the user from contact with ticks, other arachnids and crawling insects.
Articles of clothing have been designed to protect a person from insects and animals, as well as providing the user with the normal protection from the weather. One frequent objective of such clothing is to protect the user from the bite of animals such as snakes (see e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,191,185 and 3,269,036). Protective clothing has also been designed to shield the user from flying insects (see e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 2,344,811). Disease-carrying ticks present a relatively new problem, however, for which current forms of clothing do not provide adequate protection.
Ticks are parasitic creatures which sometimes carry infectious diseases. Deer and bear ticks are known to carry Borrelia burgdorferi bacteria, which causes Lyme disease. Ticks can bite humans and in doing so, may transmit the bacteria. The tick problem has become substantial, as shown by the fact that Lyme disease has been discovered in 43 states and on every continent except Antarctica.
There are several chemical tick repellents which are commercially available. One form of repellant may contain a small percentage of the chemical DEET and often is applied directly to the user's skin. Many individuals may prefer, however, not to apply such chemicals directly to themselves due to the potential for harmful side affects. Still other individuals may be unable to apply the chemicals to their skin because of allergic reactions or skin irritations. For these reasons, some people use repellents only on their clothing and not on their skin.
One currently available repellent that is designed to be used only on clothing is a permethrin spray. For people who wish to apply repellent to their clothes, total application to standard types of clothing is not very practical. One reason is that a large quantity of repellent must be applied to cover all of the user's clothing. Another reason is that a general application exposes the repellent to weather (wind, rain, etc.) and physical objects (furniture, work tool, trees, etc.) which dissipate the repellent and thus diminish its effectiveness.
Thus, a need exists for a protective article of clothing that provides the user with protection from ticks by incorporating a design that (1) effectively diminishes the chances of ticks coming in direct contact with the user's skin, and (2) effectively receives and utilizes tick repellent.